WASHINGTON/POLITICS
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 5A
Mueller: Flynn’s cooperation merits lesser sentence
BY CHAD DAY
AND ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President
Donald Trump’s former national
security adviser provided so much
information to the special counsel’s
Russia investigation that prosecu
tors say he shouldn’t do prison time,
according to a court filing Tuesday
that describes Michael Flynn’s
cooperation as “substantial.”
The filing by special counsel Rob
ert Mueller provides the first details
of Flynn’s assistance in the Russia
investigation, including that he par
ticipated in 19 interviews with pros
ecutors and cooperated extensively
in an undisclosed criminal probe.
It was filed two weeks ahead of
Flynn’s sentencing and just over a
year after he became the first of
five Trump associates to accept
responsibility by pleading guilty to
lying to the FBI about conversations
with the Russian ambassador.
Though prosecutors withheld
specific details of Flynn’s coop
eration due to ongoing investiga
tions, their filing underscores the
breadth of information Mueller
has obtained from people close to
Trump as the president increas
ingly vents his anger at the probe
— and those who cooperate with it.
This week, Trump lashed out
at his former legal fixer, Michael
Cohen, saying he is making up
“stories” to get a reduced prison
sentence after his latest guilty plea
to lying to Congress. Trump also
praised confidante Roger Stone
for saying he would “never testify
against Trump,” adding, “Nice to
know some people still have ‘guts!’”
It’s unclear if Trump will now
turn his fury on Flynn, whom
Trump grew close to during the
2016 campaign and who has drawn
the president’s sympathy.
Trump has repeatedly lamented
how Flynn’s life has been destroyed
by the special counsel’s probe. At
one point, he tried to protect Flynn
by asking former FBI Director
James Comey to drop an investi
gation into his alleged false state
ments, according to a memo Comey
wrote after the 2017 encounter.
That episode, which Trump
has denied, is among those under
scrutiny by Mueller as he probes
whether the president attempted
to obstruct the Russia investigation.
Federal sentencing guidelines
recommend between zero and six
months in prison for Flynn, leaving
open the possibility of probation.
Mueller’s office said Flynn’s
cooperation merits a sentence at
the bottom end of the range. But
prosecutors say his long military
and government service makes his
deception more troublesome.
“Senior government leaders
should be held to the highest stan
dards,” they wrote. “The defen
dant’s extensive government
service should have made him par
ticularly aware of the harm caused
by providing false information
to the government, as well as the
rules governing work performed on
behalf of a foreign government.”
WISCONSIN
Outgoing governor booed at tree lighting
STEVE APPS I Associated Press
Bob Kinosian, from Wauwatosa, Wis., holds up a sign during the state Christmas
Tree lighting ceremony in state Capitol Rotunda Tuesday Dec. 4, in Madison, Wis.
BY scon BAUER AND
TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
MADISON— Demonstrators booed
outgoing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
yesterday during a Christmas tree-light
ing ceremony, at times drowning out a
high school choir with their own songs
in protest of a Republican effort to gut
the powers of his Democratic successor.
The governor appeared unfazed as
he flipped the switch while one pro
tester shouted “Hey Walker! Go home!”
He left without taking questions from
reporters about the bills being consid
ered in the rare lame-duck legislative
session. Walker, who has signaled sup
port for the measures, later tweeted that
he “can handle the shouts,” but he urged
protesters to “leave the kids alone.”
Stung by their election loss last month,
Republicans treated the lame-duck ses
sion as a final opportunity to use
their political clout to weaken
the next governor before time
runs out. Democrats, who won
every statewide constitutional
office after nearly a decade-
long GOP hold on power,
derided the session as a cynical
attempt to preserve the party’s
waning strength.
Republicans were still work
ing to reach final agreement on what
they would pass. Leaders from both the
Senate and Assembly negotiated into the
night, giving opponents hope that the
bills may be scaled back.
“If he wanted to put a stop to this, he
could,” Russ Hahn, an attorney, said of
Walker. He was holding a sign that said
“GOP Grinch Steals Democracy.”
The fact that Walker was making
no attempt to halt the effort “clearly
indicates he wants to be able to control
things outside the governor’s office for
the next four or eight years,”
Hahn said.
At one point Tuesday, the
public was ordered removed
from Senate galleries after
warnings to be quiet. Specta
tors shouted “Shame!” and
hurled complaints at senators,
temporarily halting debate.
Less than an hour later, Repub
licans agreed to let people in.
The GOP proposals would weaken
the governor’s ability to put in place
rules that enact laws and shield the state
jobs agency from his control. Republi
cans also want to limit early voting to no
more than two weeks before an election.
Walker burst onto the national politi
cal scene in 2011 with an aggressive
anti-union agenda. Many of the same
protesters who confronted him then
returned to the Capitol on Tuesday —
albeit in far fewer numbers. Protests
in 2011 reached 100,000, but only a few
dozen were on hand this time.
“The first thing Scott Walker did
when he walked through the door of
the Capitol was to create chaos,” Demo
cratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach said during
Senate debate. “The last thing he is
doing is creating chaos.”
Democrats vowed to do all they could
to stop the proposals, which would
weaken both Democratic Gov.-elect
Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect
Josh Kaul.
Some hinted at filibusters or legal
challenges and called the lame-duck ses
sion “illegitimate.” Former Democratic
attorney general and Gov. Jim Doyle
said the moves were unconstitutional.
Never in Wisconsin “has an extraor
dinary session been used to deny the
will of the people and take away powers
from the newly elected governor and
newly elected attorney general,” Demo
cratic Rep. Chris Taylor said.
Walker
Avenatti rules out
presidential run
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Michael Avenatti says he will not
be mounting a 2020 presidential run.
Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Dan
iels and a vocal Trump critic, says in a tweeted statement
that he made the decision at the urging
of his family and if not for their con
cerns he would run.
Avenatti had been laying the ground
work for a possible run with visits to
early voting states. But he’s had a dif
ficult few weeks, including his arrest
on suspicion of felony domestic vio
lence. The Los Angeles district attorney
declined to prosecute him.
He expressed concern that the Demo
cratic Party will nominate someone “who might make
an exceptional President but has no chance of actually
beating Donald Trump.”
He says, “We will not prevail in 2020 without a fighter”
and hopes “the party finds one.”
Avenatti
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